Fic: Intoxicated

Title: IntoxicatedAuthor:badly_knittedCharacters: Owen, Andy, Jack.Rating: PG-15Spoilers: Nada.Summary: A straightforward retrieval leads to unexpected consequences for Owen when he runs into PC Andy.Word Count: 1537Written For: Prompt 475 – Cupid’s Arrow at slashthedrabble.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.A/N: This is the much longer version of the ficlet I posted to the community.

The small pink box seemed perfectly innocuous when Owen found it, lying in the dirt beside a dumpster in one of Cardiff’s crummy back alleys, but after some recent bizarre effects caused by things that initially appeared harmless, he’d learned to exercise a degree of caution, and donned protective gloves before picking it up. Better safe than sorry; never let anyone say he didn’t learn from his mistakes.

Unfortunately for him, as he was about to discover, some things didn’t actually require direct skin contact in order to cause unforeseen effects. Even more unfortunately, he wasn’t exactly watching where he was going as he headed back to the SUV following the straightforward and uneventful retrieval of the box, and as he exited the alley, he walked smack into someone walking along the street.

The person he collided with was both taller and heavier than Owen, and somehow both of them ended up on the ground, Owen flat on his back, the other man on top of him, and the box in Owen’s hands wedged uncomfortably between them. Flustered and embarrassed, they scrabbled about, finally managing to disentangle themselves and get to their feet, which was when Owen realised that the lid had fallen off the box he’d found. Inside was a pale pink gauzy sachet containing what looked like some kind of dried and crushed leaves. Thankfully, it didn’t look like any had come out; the sachet was still tied tightly at the top and despite its apparent delicacy it hadn’t torn, so Owen wasn’t overly concerned. The leaves smelled nice anyway; it was probably the alien version of a lavender bag or something similar, boxed up as a gift.

“Sorry about that, my fault, wasn’t watching where I was going,” a vaguely familiar voice said. “Here, I think you dropped this.” A hand came into Owen’s field of vision, holding the box’s lid, and Owen looked up to see Gwen’s old partner, PC Andy Davidson. He looked different out of uniform, younger and considerably hotter. Owen felt he shouldn’t be surprised by that; police uniforms weren’t exactly flattering, something to do with the yellow reflective jacket. No one could be expected to look their best in one of those.

“S’okay, no harm done,” Owen assured him, feeling magnanimous as he gave the other man an appreciative once over. “Ta.” He reached for the lid, and as he took it, his fingers brushed against Andy’s and an electric jolt seemed to go through him; he was pretty sure Andy felt it too, judging by the way the other man’s eyes widened and his pupils expanded. The scent wafting from the box Owen held was intoxicating, but Owen couldn’t be sure whether it was that or Andy that was making his mouth water. Maybe it was a bit of both.

“Smells nice,” Andy said, letting go of the box’s lid as Owen took it and instead running his fingers over the back of Owen’s hand, making his skin tingle deliciously.

“Doesn’t matter though, does it? Not to me anyhow. So, fancy coming back to mine? It’s not far; I only live just down the street.”

Right at that moment, Owen thought he’d willingly follow Andy to the ends of the earth. “Yeah, okay. Why not?”

“Great.” Andy grinned and led the way to a small terraced house a couple if hundred yards down the street, unlocking the front door and ushering Owen inside.

The moment the door closed behind them, they slammed into each other, lips seeking lips, and hands frantically tugging at clothing, desperate to reach the bare skin beneath. Owen managed to drop the box, with its lid now in place, onto the small table just inside Andy’s front door, needing it out of the way because it was hampering his efforts to strip Andy out of his clothes as fast as possible. Andy was just as intent on stripping Owen; they kicked off shoes, and toed off socks, all the time grappling with buttons, belts, zippers…

“Bedroom,” Andy gasped, tearing his lips from Owen’s for a moment and vaguely gesturing at the staircase behind him with one hand before tugging Owen up the stairs behind him.

“Hell with that,” Owen grunted, halfway up the stairs. “Want you now!” Preparation was hurried and haphazard, using the little tub of Vaseline with aloe that Owen kept in his pocket to keep his lips from chapping in the cold Cardiff winter. It might have been an un unusual choice of lubricant, but it was what was available and it worked well enough, plus there was still plenty left for round two on the landing, this time with Andy topping. Owen was fairly certain he passed out that time when he came. This was the best sex he’d had in years! They finally made it to Andy’s bed just in time for round three, with Owen topping again, followed soon after by round four, after which the Vaseline was gone. It hardly mattered anymore; they were both so well lubricated by now that any more would have been superfluous, so they didn’t bother looking for an alternate lubricant for round five. By the time they ran out of energy sometime in the early hours of the morning, Owen had completely lost count; he’d probably be sore in the morning, but he felt amazing.

The next morning, he awoke in an unfamiliar bed and for a minute, he had no idea where he was, not an unusual situation for someone who played the field as much as Owen Harper.

“Morning.”

Owen turned towards the familiar voice and saw Andy grinning at him. Just like that, the previous night’s events came flooding back and Owen couldn’t keep from returning the grin. “Mornin’ yourself.”

“That was some night, wasn’t it?”

“Tell me about it,” Owen agreed. “Best I’ve had in quite some time.” Reaching out, he tugged Andy in for a good morning kiss which, despite both of them having a bad case of morning breath, went on for quite a while. “Wish I could stay, but the boss’ll kill me if I’m too late to work,” he said regretfully when they separated.

“I need to get to the station anyway,” Andy said ruefully. “Don’t want to get my pay docked for tardiness.”

“Bottom of the stairs with mine, most likely,” Andy chuckled. “I’ll go get ‘em while you shower.” He gave Owen a pat on the butt and scrambled off the bed, vanishing through the bedroom door, buck-naked, a sight well worth savouring in Owen’s opinion.

Leaving Andy’s place half an hour later with the little pink box in hand, Owen located the SUV, still where he’d left it the night before, and drove straight to the Hub. It was a good thing he kept a couple of changes of clothes there for emergencies.

“Morning, Owen,” Jack greeted. “Where’d you disappear to last night?” There was something about Jack’s smirk that told Owen his boss already knew the answer to that.

“’ave you been following me?”

Jack shook his head. “Perish the thought! I have better things to do with my time, but when you didn’t come back from that late retrieval, Ianto and I checked the CCTV in the area, just to make sure you were okay. You and Andy seemed to be getting along so we figured we should just leave you to it. Good night, was it?”

Owen got a faraway look in his eyes, then forcibly snapped himself out of it. “Yeah, it was very good, only…” He held up the pink box. “I think we might’ve been under the influence of this.”

Jack took one look at the box and burst out laughing. “That would do it alright!”

“So what exactly is it?”

“It’s a powerful aphrodisiac made from the dried leaves of a plant known as Cupid’s Arrow,” Jack explained. “The interesting thing is though, it has no effect whatsoever unless its scent is inhaled by two people who are already attracted to each other. It enhances what’s already there.”

A slow smile spread across Owen’s face. “That’s good news, because I’m seein’ Andy again tonight; he invited me over for dinner.” He handed Jack the box. “As much fun as this was, I don’t think we’re goin’ to need it this time. Another night like that and neither of us would be able to walk.” He winked at Jack. “Just don’t wear Teaboy out too much tonight. I don’t want to get here in the morning and find he’s too tired to make coffee.”